Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! Over 1,000 of you entered the Bizarre cover star competition, but the stunning Skin has scooped the prize and, as you cast your eyes across these pictures, it’s easy to understand why.

“I’ve wanted to be on the cover of Bizarre since I was about 16,” confesses Skin, her magenta hair cascading down her shoulders and almond eyes flashing excitedly. “I still  have every single copy that I’ve ever bought… It’s like an encyclopaedia of weird!”

Skin is like Bizarre made flesh – so join us  in celebrating her win; it’s a fetish fairy tale come true, and we’re sure this is only the beginning  of an extraordinary alt.modelling career.

Born in Ventura, California, Skin’s family travelled across America because of her missionary father’s work, before settling in Scotland when she was four years old. “My accent’s totally all over the place,” she says  in a voice that skips between bonny Scottish lilt and West Coast punk grrrl drawl. The 22-year-old’s currently based in Edinburgh, but she’s preparing to move to Los Angeles, and then aims to split her time between the City Of Angels and London.

“Gypsies are in my blood,” she says by way of explaining her nomadic lifestyle. “I get my colour from Ethiopia, and I’m a little bit Danish, and apparently I have a bunch of relatives that were gypsies that wandered all over Europe.”

Skin’s competition entry proved that she wasn’t just spectacular-looking, but had a sinister sense of humour as well. She sent in pictures of herself wearing a red and yellow latex McDonalds uniform, complete with a matching hat emblazoned with the cheery slogan ‘Masochist’ instead of the fast food joint’s logo. “I thought that’d be up Bizarre’s street,” she grins.

In fact, it was Bizarre that opened Skin’s eyes to alternative modelling. “I didn’t realise that there was a whole other world of modelling apart from just the fashion side of it,” she says. “I saw Bianca Beauchamp on the cover and was like, ‘I wanna start modelling so that I can be on the cover of Bizarre’. This is a life goal that I’m achieving, so it’s really surreal – it hasn’t really hit me yet.”

Skin managed to meet Ms Beauchamp herself during a trip to April’s Fetish Evolution event in Germany, where her rubber-clad heroine was acting as Mistress of Ceremonies.  In fact, Skin did more than just meet her…  “I gave Bianca a lapdance and apparently ran around her hotel room naked and made out with her and stuff,” she confesses. Apparently? “Well, I was drunk at the time!” she giggles.

After conquering London and LA, our  winner hopes to go east. “I love Japan’s ancient traditions and its crazy pop culture as well,” says Skin, who’s long been fascinated with the country as well as being a huge fan of Japanese horror films such as Ju-On (AKA, The Grudge). Even her pink hair – which has also been green, platinum, purple and blue – comes from her love of animé girls and manga. “I always said that if I was ever to have a kid then I’d have it with a man from Tokyo, so that the baby would look kind of Japanese,” she laughs.

Skin’s even had her obsession converted into ink. On her left arm is a tattoo of a Japanese nurse with pink hair, inspired by a painting by Trevor Brown, who she discovered in Bizarre. “Everyone says she looks like me,” she says, quickly adding “but she’s not supposed to be me!” On the other arm sits a manga cat “that’s supposed to represent my cute side”.

Skin’s also got the letters ‘LBST’ printed on her forearm, which simply stand for ‘Love Booze Sex Tattoos’, and a feather on her wrist, which symbolises the first time she went to a fetish club. She was 18, and she travelled down to the Big Smoke to go to Torture Garden with a friend. “I’d been into the alternative scene for ages, but they don’t really have many fetish clubs in Scotland, especially where I grew up in Dunfermline,” she says. “I remember giggling when I got inside the club and saw gimps on the floor tied to a radiator!”

At Torture Garden, Skin squeezed her way to the front to watch Masuimi Max strut her stuff, and wore a corset and nylon stockings, with  a burlesque-and-feathers theme – hence the tattoo. “I got that the next day”.

Despite her impending move to the US, Skin admits that when it comes to fetish clubs, Europe does it best. “I’ve been to fetish clubs  in America, but they’re not as fun, because you can’t just walk around naked – you can’t show any nipples, at all… it’s all very scene-y and the people are kind of boring, but in European fetish clubs nobody cares. They just go all out!”

Now, do you want to be the one to tell Skin to stay here in the UK or shall we?

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